What Is Natural birth?

What is natural birth?  Simply put, it’s a birth without intervention. What is an intervention? It’s any kind of action outside of the mothers own physiological process that influences the birth process. There is a wide spectrum of interventions from vaginal exams to IV’s of saline & ringers lactate to c-sections.  For all intents and purposes, many choose to define it as a birth without an epidural or pain drugs. Nobody “owns” this term, and I have chosen to define it as a birth without any intervention. 

Vaginal birth does not automatically mean “natural birth”. 

There is no “right” or “wrong” here. No “wrong way to birth”. There is the fully informed woman choosing her choices and being at peace with the outcomes and consequences.  If this needs clarification, I would say “right” is a woman acting from her authentic desires and needs, and “wrong” is acting from fear or reactivity.  Only because the latter option leaves her in a maelstrom of pain, discord and fragmentation. 

Sometimes women say they want a natural birth at the hospital, but since leaving your home is the first intervention, this is simply not possible. 

To my mind, to give birth naturally means to give birth as nature intended and to allow birth to unfold according to the physiology of mammalian birth. As soon as you leave your familiar home with your smells, and your comforts, and put yourself in a new environment surrounded by strangers who are waiting to impose upon this natural unfolding, the hormonal matrix that allows birth to happen as it is designed to is interrupted. 

But the deeper inquiry I invite you into, aside from the biological realities of birth is, why are you going to the hospital if you are wanting to birth naturally? If you believe natural birth to be optimal, why are you going to the place that would most ensure you would not get that? 

Many women desire a natural birth because on a deep level we know it’s right for us and our babies. Unfortunately, this desire comes with a divided will due to culturally conditioned fear around home births (which was just called “birth” at one time not too long ago). We have this “best of both worlds” idea, when in reality, our fear is still tethering us to what we have been told about the medical birth model. That they can save us, relieve us, and deliver us from our pain and suffering. You know…just in case.

“It’s coming to peace with the nature of risk (and dare I say death) that is one pillar of spiritual work for women to do when they become pregnant.”

Birthing outside of the medical paradigm requires you to take full responsibility for your birth. In reality, you are the only one responsible, wherever you decide to birth. It’s your decision to choose your risks, because they inherently exist in birth, no matter where you go. Potentially, it’s coming to peace with the nature of risk (and dare I say death) that is one pillar of spiritual work for women to do when they become pregnant. Birth is asking us to let go of the ways we try to stay in control. This is the gift it is trying to give us. 

Safety is subjective. It means something different to every woman. Before you attempt to maintain control by birthing in the hospital (even though your heart wants a natural birth), ask yourself where that is coming from, and get really clear on what your true safety needs are. Frame it as what you are desiring, rather than saying what you don’t want. Usually when we are focused on what we don’t want to happen rather than creating the conditions for our desired reality to unfold, it’s because we are in fear. You can be with your fear without having to cater to it. Make decisions based on your desires, while staying present with your fears. 

This is the work of pregnancy and birth.